Risk Is This

The Cutting Ball Festival of New Experimental Plays

May 17-June 15, 2015

RISK IS THIS…The Cutting Ball New Experimental Plays Festival is one of the only play festivals in America dedicated to experimental works for the stage. This year’s festival features five new works in staged readings that push the boundaries of what theater can be. Programmed simultaneously with Mount Misery, the 2015 installment of RISK IS THIS celebrates the trajectory of Cutting Ball’s new play development from commissions to full productions!

WHO IS HEINER MÜLLER OR THE END OF HISTORY

Written and directed by Mark Jackson
Sunday, May 17 – 1:40pm*
Monday, May 18 – 7pm

This psyco-mystery-thriller-comedy (ab)uses the famous East German writer as it takes on death, identity, amnesia, cynicism, world politics, and revenge.
*Sunday’s reading will directly follow our Hidden Classics Reading Series Hamletmachine which begins at 1:00PM. Patrons are invited to attend both readings!

CAUGHT

By Christopher Chen
Directed by Rem Myers
Sunday, May 24 – 1pm
Monday, May 25 – 7pm

This new play from Chen (The Hundred Flowers Project) takes a profound look at the very assumption of truth in art, performance, and journalism.

Featuring: David Sinaiko, Michelle Talgarow, Kathryn Zdan, and Ogie Zulueta.

nightcap

By Katharine Sherman
Directed by Rob Melrose
Sunday, May 31 – 1pm
Monday, June 1 – 7pm

This ode to August Strindberg’s surreal masterpiece A Dream Play was commissioned by Cutting Ball Theater. Sherman’s play Ondine was featured in the 2014 RISK IS THIS festival.

Featuring: Molly Benson, Madeline H.D. Brown, Caitlyn Louchard, Kenny Toll, and Mimu Tsujimura

whisper fish

By Andrew Saito
Directed by Molly Aaronson-Gelb
Sunday, June 7 – 1pm
Monday, June 8 – 7pm

Cutting Ball Resident Playwright Andrew Saito weaves a tale about family, longing, and isolation (both imposed and created) as two Japanese-Peruvian siblings attempt to communicate with each other through fantastical and creative means.

Featuring: Featuring: Britney Frazier, Sarita Ocon, Mimu Tsujimura, and Ogie Zulueta

BEAUTY SECRETS

By Andrew Saito
Directed by Rem Myers
Sunday, June 14 – 1pm
Monday, June 15 – 7pm

A modern retelling of the Medusa myth features an Athena who sells beauty products on television, a 'roided-out Perseus with an propensity for violent video games, an exotic seahorse named Pegasus, and a newly disfigured Medusa who just wants to be left alone.

Featuring: Juan Amador, Britney Frazier, and Safiya Fredericks

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Presenting the 2014-2015 Risky Playwrights and their Risky plays.

These plays were all adored and discussed by our literary committee and strongly considered for our 2015 RISK IS THIS Festival. Please contact the literary manager Rem Myers at rem@cuttingball.com for more information about these plays and playwrights

Attic Play by Anthony Kochensparger
Cow Play by Matthew George
Dirt by Samara Weiss
Relative Value by Jesse Longman
Sticky Dixie by Kathryn Walat
Tal's Miasmic Mystery Tour by Mordecai Ettinger
The Draper’s Eye by Fengar Gael
The Girl from Crete Falls by Idris Goodwin
The Man in the Sukkah by Deborah Yarchun
Virus by Ben Fisher
Water Bound by Sam Lahne
Why Birds Fly by Emma Goldman-Sherman
Wolves by Paul Heller